Nut-castellating mechanism



A. SPEAR- NUT CASTELLATING MECHANISM- APPLICATION flLED MAR.26, 1920.

1 ,4;80,334, Patented Sept. 26, 1922.

' 3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

A; SPEAR. 4 NUT CASTELLATING MECHANISM.

APPLIICATIONHFIL'ED MAR- 26, I920.

5'1 ,430,334. atentease t.26,1922.

3 SHEETS-SHEET Z.

I A. SPEAR. NUT CASTELLATING MECHANISM. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 26, 1920.

Patented Sept. 26, 1922.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

Patented dept, 2%, i922 earner.-

ouicaeo, rLLnvois.

NUT-CASTZ'SLLATII Q'G MECHANISM.

Application filed March 26, 1920. Serial No, 369,117.

To (aZZ whom it? may concern."

Be it known that I, Ami-1UP. SPEAK, a citizen of the United States, andresident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Nut-CastellatingMechanism, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in punch presses and has specialreference to improvements in means and methods for producing castellatednuts.

The rapid and wide development of the automobile has greatly increasedthe demand for screw nuts which are made to beheld against loosening bya split cotter, which, extends through the end oi the bolt on which thenut is received andis received in notches provided in a crown on thenut. Such nuts on account 01? their appearance are common ly calledcastellated nuts. The great quain tities of these nuts which are nowused has led to the necessity of improved and automatic means forproducing the notches in the crown, In order to be able to hold the nuttightly against the abutment against which it is screwed in i use, ithas been Found desirable to provide hexagon nuts with at least threediametrically arranged pairs of the notches, making six notches in all,one in each side of the nut and by means of my improved multiple punchpress and automatic -teed I am enabled, upon each stroke of the press,to eject one completely castcllated nut, punch six notches in sixseparate n1 at each stroke of the punch and teed the nuts through themachine 'ironi one punch to the next, step by step, cutting a notch ineach of the nuts at each step. 1

I have found that it is'productive of best results, particularly asregards the bore of the nut, that the punch or cutter shouldcutoutwardly from the bore of the nut through the wall ot the crown, and Ihave provided a punch of very simple construction and verysimplyoperated for operating on the nut in this manner. I provide a swingingblade or tool holder so pivotally mounted die on which the nuts and so rlated to the are held that I am enabled to mount the device upon anordina j punch press and cause the punches to swing up and down, the endof the punches swinging into the of the nuts and cut inc outwardlyagainst the die upon which the nuts rest.

This swinging die is linked a very simple lost motion device to thevertically movable head of the press so that regardless aremoved alongby the feed device they are,

automatically rotated step by stop, being turned a sixth of" arevolution at each step so that-as the multiple punch swings down thenotches produced by the 'several cutters are produced in the successivesides of the nuts.

li ly invention will be more readily understood by reference to theaccompanying drawings forming part of this specification and in which rFigure l is a iront elevation of the device, shown connected to thevertically movable head of a punch press,

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the device, Figure 3 is a horizontalsection on the line oi Figure 2, and r I 3 l igure l is a verticalsection on the line 1 in said drawings 1 represents the base of apunchpress, and 2 represents the vertically movable head of the punch press.The base 1 serves as a support upon which the diedevice is secured andthe head 2 carries the movable mechanism for supplyingpower'to thepunching device.

My improved nut castellating'or punching mechanism comprises a baseplate 3 adapted to be secured to the base 1 of the punch press inposition belowth'e head 2 and carries avertically swinging punch orcutter holder i mounted to. swing on horizontal axis on bearings 5at-the end of the holder 4 which bearings are mounted. in suitableopenings invertical standards 6 rising from the ends of the base plate-The holder 4 is'provided with a plurality of vertical transverse slotsoft .i igure 2.

rota ta-bly 4' opening through its upper face for receiving cutters 8 bywhich the slots are cut in the nuts. I provide sir: of these slots andsix cutters and all of the cutters are held firmly in position by asingle top plate 9 secured to the holder by means of screws 10. Thecutters 8 are thin strips or" steel somewhat similar to cut-off toolsexcept that they have parallel sides and they are adapted to be advanced"from time to time through the slots 7 to properly position theirforward ends 8 in relation to the nuts as they are ground back forsharpening them. The holder e is swung up and down by means of a headmember 11 secured to the vertically movable member 2 of the punch press.I connect the holder 4t to the heat 11 by a lost motion connection whichpermits the head 11 to move up and down the full motion of thevertically movable member 2 of the punch press and whichv permits thehead 4; to move up and down suiticiently to perform the operation ofcutting the slots in the nuts without limiting the vertical movement oithe head 11. This lost motion connection between the two membersconsists of slotted links 12 pivotally connected at their lower ends tothe holder 4 by screws 18 and connected their upper ends to a block 14:carried on the lower end of a vertical nude pin 15 which extends througha suitable central opening 16 in the head 11 and is provided on itsupper end with an enlarged head 17 adapted to seat on a shoulder 18 inthe head 11 to limit the downward movement of the blocl: 14-. The block14 is of equal length with the holder 4 and to prevent the bio it fromswinging round horizontally o'it alignment with the holder 4- l proxiileguide projection 19 on the head 1'1 again which one vertical face 20 ofthe bloci: is always in contact. The upper ends of links 12 are providedwith slots 21. tor .ccuring screws 22 so that the block 20 wll have somefree up and down movement reetive to the holder 4- for properlycontacting with the holder t in the operation of PIPJSFF ing the headdownwardly to cut the nuts. In Figure 2 l have shown the block i at theupper limit of its movement and the head 11 at the upper limit of itsmovement. It willbe obvious upon examining said ligures that'the head 11is free to descend toward the holder t some distance before it willcontact with the upper surface of the block 14 to force same down.During this part of the movement the enla 'ged head 17 on the guide rod15 is rising; through the bore 23 in the head 11. It will be obviousthat in addition to the guide projection 19 or independently thereof Imay provide the block 14- with guide pins 2 adjacent to its ends andrising through guide oienings in the head 11 for preventing" the block ll: swinging round on the connection pin 15.

The machine designed is adapted to cut slots in the crowns of hexagonnuts 26 and tor propel-fly positioning these nuts in relation to thecutters S tor cutting slots 27 in the nuts I provide or combined die andnut holding member comprising a series of die blocks 28 pos tioned inthe path. of the forward ends of the cutters 8 and each provided wi. h adie slot 29 to permit the cut out portions to drop tree of the de vice.The several blocks Q8 are mounted upon the base 8 and are removably heldin position by screws 30 at the ends of the base 3 havi 31 enga" theends of the outer blochs. at rear sides against a vertical troin thebase 3 and and securely against t is member having a v r ward Ly oy anangle tioned against the blocks and a horizontal flange 0 wine noon thep L) 1,4 L I upper "lace or the has: 3 and secured to the by screws Thenuts 26 are led to the machine through a chute 86 at one end of so 1 l ithe mar-lune and the the upper surfaces blocks 28 which are arrai'igedin a single plane. The nuts spaced on this urtace and moved along by afeeding device which 90 will be more fully described hereinafter. Thenuts are positioned by the feeding de vice centrally above the severaldie slots 29 as best shown in Figure l and accurately positioned inrelation to said slots by pressure blocks arranged one above each dieslot and yieldingly held downwardly by compression springs 39 wnich aremounted in pockets 4!) in sail pressure bloclrs and bear at their upperends against a relative i d tlange or f to l-l rigidly secured to a rig,d wall &2 rising from the base plate 2-3. These pressure hloclts 38 areheld against the front face oi" the wall 42 by a cover E" ii to the l 0down upon 1 die nuts drop 3? of the plate 42 and screws l3 which entcwall 42 through slots provided in the o The down-' yacent edges of thebloc ed ward movement of the blocks 38 is limit by the screws 43 which'tti'liftttl to con tact with the upper en is of the slots prevent thebloclrs 38 being forced l, wardly by the springs too far. Each block 38is provided, in its low r end, with a wide notch IS adapted, as shown inFigure 4, to receive one of the sine faces of a nut 26 and position itaccurately over the slot 29 below same.

The nuts are position-cc with crowned ends toward the cutter holder 4-the cutter holder is so bearings 5 in relation to upper surface 37 ofthe lit which the nuts 26 rest that tlr 3 of the cutters 8 can swinginto the 4.6 ot-the nuts 26, enteringc edges of the bores and swingingrearwardly into the bores far enough to cut the desired depth of notch27 in the crown of the nut.

As explained hereinbefore I provide positions for six of the hexagonnuts and six of the cutters 8 and as the holder is depressed each cuttercuts a. notch 27 in one of the six nuts. In other words, six notches arecut at each downward movement of the holder 4 and at each movement ofthe feed device the nuts are progressively moved through the machinefrom one position to the next, so that at each forward movement of thefeed device one additional blank nut is fed into the machine and onefinished nut is discharged.

The feeding device comprises a longitudinal plate 47 which is arrangedin horizontal position at the rear of the nuts in a horizontal slot 47provided in the wall 42. This plate is provided on its forward edge withnut engaging projections 48 for moving the nuts along upon their sidesfrom one position to the next and for rotating the nuts in suchmovement. I provide seven of these projections 48 one for each of thenuts being operated upon and one for engaging a blank nut for feeding itinto the machine. This plate 47 is movable longitudinally of the devicefor feeding the nuts along and is movable transversely of the device forengaging and disengaging the nuts. The mechanism which I provide formoving this feed plate comprises a pair of swinging levers 49 pivotallymounted on a flange 50 of the base member 3 and connected together forsimultaneous movement by a horizontal link 51 pivotally connected at itsend to the levers by pivot pins 52. At the center of this link I providea fixed horizontal pin 53 which is received in a cam slot 54 in avertically movable cam bar 55 rigidly sccured at its upper end to therear face of the head 11 by bolts 56.

The upper ends 57 of the levers 49 are received in inclined slots 58 inthe feed plate 47 and are provided with anti-friction rollers 59 toreduce friction. The inclined slots 58 are so arranged that upon thebeginning of the forward movement of the levers 49 the plate 47 isadvanced to cause the projections 48 to engage the rear sides of theseveral nuts, and as the levers swing forward the plate 47 is movedlongitudinally of the device and each of the several nuts is moved fromone position to the next. In such movement of the nuts the forward walls60 of the several notches 45 in the pressure plates 38 engage theadjacent corners of the nuts and cause them to be rotated from one faceto the next face in the direction of the arrow 61 on Figure 4 so thatthey will be presented to the next cutter in the series in properposition to have the next slot cut. To avoid any interference betweenthe lower corners of the pressureplates 38 with the nuts as they areadvanced I bevel or round oil the rear lower corners 38 of these platesso that even if one plate should project below the adjacent platethe nutas it advances will not be caught by the corner but will cam the plateup out of its path.

In such movement of the nuts they slide forward upon the forward portion28' of the die blocks 28 which are enough higher than the rear portionsof the blocks to provide a channel 28 in which the corners of the nutscan freely turn the nuts slide along upon the outer peripheries of theircrowns.

As explained hereinbefore, the first part of the downward movement ofthe head 11 causes the levers 49 to swing forward thus causing the feedplate 47 to be advanced to engage the projections 48 with the nuts.

The continued downward movement of the head ll causes the feed plate tobe advanced to advance the nuts from one position to the next and at thepoint thatthe lost motion between the head 11 and the block 14 is alltaken up when the block 14 pushes down the cutter holder 4 the cam pin53 has reached the vertical portion (32 of the cam slot 54 so that thefeed plate 47 at such time remains stationary. 1n reverse operation theplate 47 remains stationary during the period that the cam bar is risingwith the cam pin inthe vertical portion 62 of the cam'slotand as the campin travels through the inclined portion of the cam slot the swinginglevers 49 begin to swing in the opposite direction. At the initialportion of their movement their upper ends by moving through theinclined slots 58 in the feed bar draw the feed barrearwardly out ofengagement with the nuts and then they move the plate 47 longitudinallyto the position shown in full line in Figure 3 ready for the next cycleof operations. v

It is to be noted that the block or head 14 rests at all times incontact with the forward and upper edge of the plate 9 which holds thecutters in the holder 4 and being in contact therewith it does notstrike the plate a blow in beginning the pressing operation, but merelypresses the same down.

he holder 4 is normally held at the upper limit of its movement incontact witlrthe block by suitable compression springs 68 mounted in thepockets 64 provided in the base 3 and having their upper ends mounted insuitable pockets 65 in the lower wall of the holder 4.

For the purpose of producing a slight friction on the feed plate 47 toprevent the plate being jarred out of its true. position as determinedby the movement of the feed device, I provide friction blocks 66 held insuitable pockets 67 in the wall 42 and resting upon the upper surface ofthe plate ll. In the pockets 6'? above the blocks (36 I arrangecompression springs 68 to hold the blocks 60 pressed against the upperface of the feed plate t? with a yielding pres sure.

As many modifications of my invention will readily suggest themselves toone skilled in the art, I do not limit or confine my invention to thespecific structures herein shown and described.

ll claim:

1. In a device of the kind described, a gang punch mounted upon hearingsto swing up and down, a die device for holding a plurality of crownednuts with their crowned ends facing the punch, the punch provided withforwardly projecting cutters, one for each nut, the cutters adapted toswing freely into the bores of the nuts and cut notches therein bypressing outwardly against a suitable die, and. pressure meansindividual to each nut adapted to firmly seat the nut on the die,substantially as described.

2. In a device of the kind described, a punch holder mounted uponbearings to swing up and down, and carryin a plurality of horizontallyspaced cutters projecting forwardly therefrom, a die member adapted tosupport a like number of nuts with the crowned ends projecting towardsthe punch, the several cutters adapted to swing freely into the bores ofthe nuts and to cut notches in the crowns thereof by pressing outwardlyagainst the supporting die, and means for advancing the nuts from onecutter to another cutter and rotating them in such advancement so as tocut notches in the nuts which advance around the crowns thereof step bystep, substantially as described.

The combination with an ordinary punch press of a nut castellatingdevice which consists of a punch member mounted to swing up and down onbearings and provided with a plurality of cutters projecting from theforwarc side thereof, a die member for holding a like plurality of nuts,means for advancing the nuts from one position to the next at eachstroke of the press and for partially rotating the nuts in suchadvancement, and means for causing the punch member to swing up and downwith the up and down movement of the press head, substantially asdescribed.

t. In a device of the kind described, a gang punch comprising a holdermounted to swing up and down on a horizontal axis, transverse narrowslots in the holder open ing through the top thereof for receiving thinelongated blades to serve as punches, and a single top plate secured tothe holder and adapted to hold all of the blades in the holder,substantially as described.

5. In a device of the kind described, a

holder mounted to swing up and down on a horizontal axis, a plurality ofhorizontally spaced cutters carried by the holder, links at the ends ofthe holder connecting the holder to the head of a punch press, the linkseach having a lost motion connection to the head, and a plunger carriedby the head resting at its lower end upon the holder and adapted to pushthe holder down as the head descends, the plunger having a lost motionconnection with the head to permit the head a greater amplitude ofmotion than that of the holder, substantially as described.

6. The combination with a punch press having a vertically movable head,of a gang punch device for castellating nuts, comprising a punch holdermounted. on bearings to swing up and down, lost motion connectionbetween the holder and the head and a lost motion pressure memberadapted to force the holder down when the head descends, a die havingdie slots arranged to receive the several nmches and to hold crownednuts with the crowned ends facing the punches, a horizontally movablemember for advancing the nuts from one position to another, and cam.means operatively connecting said nut advancing member to the press headto cause the nuts to be advanced the punch head descends, substantiallyas described.

7. In a device of the kind described, a chute down which. the nuts arefed, a horizontally movable feed member for moving the nuts fromposition to position, a swinging member mounted on the device andoperatively connected with the horizontally movable member for movingsame back and forth, a cam bar rigid with the presshead, a camprojection on the horizontally swing ing member operatively connectingsame with the cam bar and adapted to move the horizontally movablemember back and forth as the press-head moves up and down, and meanscausing the nut engaging memher to move rearwardly out of engagementwith the nuts on the backward movement and to move forwardly intoengagement with the nuts on its forward movement and projections on thedevice in the path of the nuts to cause them to rotate from face to faceas they are advanced step by step through the device, substantially asde scribed.

8. In a device of the kind described, a gang punch mounted upon bearingsto swing up and down, a die device for holding a plurality of crownednuts with their crowned ends facing the punch, the punch provided withforwardly projecting cutters,

one for each nut, the cutters adapted to swing freely into the bores ofthe nuts and cut notches therein by pressing outwardly against asuitable die, and pressure means individually yieldable to each nut forfirmly seating; the several nuts on the die, substantially as(.lescribed.

9. In a device of the kind described, a gang punch mounted upon hearingsto swing up and down, a die device for holding a plurality o1": crownednuts with their crowned ends facing the punch, the punch provided withforwardly projecting cutters, one for each nut, the cutters adapted toswing freely into the bores of the nuts and cut notches therein bypressing outwardly against a suitable die, and pressure meansindividually yieldable to each nut for firmly seating the several nutson the die, said pressure means having a projection in the 15 path ofthe nuts for rotating the nuts as they are moved from one position tothe next, substantially as described.

Signed at Chicago, Illinois, this 20th day of March, 1920.

ARTHUR SPEAK.

Witness:

'1. BUTLER.

